Old Friends - New Enemies
by NedeserThul
Summary: A familiar presence awakes Nedeser Thul at night during a short leave of absence on Alderaan. Leaving his padawan and lover Nadia Grell asleep in their bed, Master Thul goes out into the wilderness to meet an old friend.


This is a quick one-shot that I dreamed up during work one day. It is in the timeline of my other Old Republic stories and takes place after the current events of the Nadia Grell story and during the events of the Malavai Quinn stories. I just thought it would be an interesting way to tie the stories together a little.

 **Warning: There is a small amount of mature at the very end. You have been warned.**

Nedeser Thul, Barsen'thor and Jedi Master woke suddenly and sat up in his bed. He could feel it. She was nearby. Standing quickly, he pulled on trousers and boots and threw a vest over his massive, muscular frame without the belt or tunic. Turning back, he looked at the bed where his apprentice and lover Nadia Grell lay. Pleading silently that she would understand, Nedeser Thul leaned down and kissed Nadia on her brow and whispered, "Please understand, love. I have to do this."

He grabbed his double bladed lightsaber and took his leave. Moments later, he was out in the Alderaan wilderness, heading towards a familiar, all-be-it altered presence. Over six kilometers away from the manner where he and his crew were staying, Nedeser came to a clearing. With a sigh, he sat on a boulder and said to the darkness, "You might as well come out now. I know that you are here somewhere."

"You always were powerful, Des. I've heard about your exploits - very impressive. How have you been, dear? I've missed you."

Out of the darkness came a dark robed figure. She was of medium height but under her robes was a skintight armored jump suit that accentuated every curve of her voluptuous figure. "I missed you too, Jaesa - but I wish you hadn't come."

Jaesa Wilsaam's coy smile faltered and she stood still. "What do you mean? We are old friends, aren't we? We go way back to the earliest years of our Jedi training. We knew each other here on Alderaan even before that."

Nedeser rubbed his eyes and didn't reply for several minutes. Jaesa circled around him and wrapped her arms around him, shoving a hand inside his vest and rubbing his chest and stomach muscles. Standing quickly, Nedeser took a deep breath and gently shrugged her off. Jaesa was surprised. "Is something wrong, Des. Why aren't you happy to see me?"

He turned on her, his face twisted with pain as he laughed mirthlessly and harshly, "Why am I not happy to see you? Jaesa, you have become a Sith apprentice to the most dangerous Sith lord in the Empire. I have heard about everything you have become – an assassin who lives under the influence of her passions and emotions – fury, fear and lust. If you were to be captured by the Jedi, they would severe your connection to the force and then exile you and then the Republic would toss you into a penal colony."

Jaesa sat down on the boulder and looked pleadingly at him. "I didn't want to meet you as a Sith. Can't we talk for a few minutes without any of that mattering?" Silence followed. With almost a sob, Jaesa whispered, "Please, Des. I've been so lonely."

Nedeser had never been able to say no to Jaesa when she pleaded like that. "I haven't seen that face since you and Alias slipped that brood of Kath Hound pups into the speeder hangers storage locker." He said with a chuckle. Jaesa's beautiful face lit up and she giggled. "That's right. We killed the mother when we took that speeder and ran into the den. You even managed to keep any masters from catching us until we could release them. Did they ever find out what happened to the speeder?"

Nedeser strode back to the boulder and sat down next to her, laughing as he replied. "They hadn't yet when Alias and I left for training on Tython. Stang! We got into so much trouble back then."

Jaesa leaned back against his shoulder and smiled happily. "Yeah but we never did anything really terrible, did we?"

Nedeser looked her in the eyes, his own eyebrow cocked and she turned away, blushing. "We never did anything that terrible? Are you kidding? The first time we got into trouble, you were fifteen, Alias and I were seventeen and we snuck into the city to see what teenagers did in the rest of the galaxy outside of the Enclave."

Jaesa giggled and blushed even more. "We saw those two kids having sex in the back of one of their parents' speeders…"

"…and you and Alias did it a couple nights later – and made me keep watch outside of the room."

The expression on Jaesa's face changed. "I always wished that it was you and not Alias. I think I was in love with you, Des. Every time Alias and I snuck off, I tried to convince you to come with me instead. You know that don't you? You realize that I always wanted you? I still want you."

Nedeser looked surprised. Looking back, he realized that she was telling the truth. She had always wanted to be with him but went to Alias after Nedeser had turned her down, not knowing what she was asking. She stood up now and dropped her dark cloak before unzipping her jump suit. Nedeser took her hands to stop her and said, "Wait, Jaesa, what are you doing?"

Her face was ravenous, like someone who was starving and was gazing at a meal, waiting only for permission to eat. "Didn't you hear me Des? I want you. I need you so badly. Do you have any idea what it's like – the passion, the sensation, the intimacy, the release? It is indescribable. I want to give that to you. I want to give you that experience."

Nedeser gently forced her hands down and shook his head. "No, Jaesa. I can't. I never thought of you that way. You were the best little sister I never had. Besides…" and he thought carefully about his next words. "…things are too different now. Back then you and me and Alias were thick as thieves and we may have caused all kinds of trouble but we also did all kinds of good. And then you went away with Master Karr as his Padawan and from there…"

Jaesa pulled away and said, "I thought we weren't talking about being Jedi and Sith, just being old friends."

Nedeser took a deep breath and turned away. "I don't know if I can anymore, Jaesa. By all rights, I should capture you and take you before the council. Blast if I don't know why I haven't yet."

Jaesa smiled coyly again and pressed herself against him, lifting one of her legs to press hard against his and she whispered seductively, "I think I know why you haven't, Des. Can you be honest with yourself? Tell me you don't want me – not even a little."

Des wouldn't look down – absolutely refused to look down at the near perfect body of the woman leaning against him. Thinking that he had conceded, Jaesa stood now and began to kiss his neck and his chiseled face. Gently, with a sigh, he pushed her away. "I don't want you, Jaesa. I don't want you like that."

She stepped back, shock and pain written openly on her face. "Please, Des. Please don't say that. Any time, every time I have ever been with anyone, all I could think about was you. I always wanted it to be you. Please don't say that to me."

It hurt more than he ever thought it would to tell her the truth but he did. "I am not in love with you Jaesa. I never was and I am sure now that, even if you had stayed with the Jedi Order, I never would be. I never thought of you or looked at you like that. Alias loved you. He adored the ground you walked on. He sometimes brought up finding you after we were fully trained Jedi."

Jaesa choked and summoned her cloak to her, wrapping it around her and turning away, walking to the edge of the clearing and stopping. She buried her face in her hands and didn't say anything. Nedeser didn't know what to do now. He could tell he had hurt her and hated it but he had to be honest. He was in love with someone else though he would not tell her that. She was a Sith after all. Suddenly, she turned back. Her voice was calm and composed as she asked, "You say no because you don't love me. You say no because I am Sith and you say no because you look at me like a sister. You did not say no because you are a Jedi. This makes we wonder one thing – is there someone you are in love with? Is there someone who you will sleep with are have slept with? Is that why the fact that you are a Jedi doesn't matter?"

Nedeser kept a calm breathing rhythm and didn't answer. He stood from the rock and sighed. "You have a choice, Jaesa. You can leave now and return to your master or go off on your own. You could also come with me and I could convince the council that you are worth redeeming and returning to your status as a Jedi."

Jaesa's face grew dark and her eyes gleamed. Her voice became icy. "Des, answer my question. Are you in love with someone else?"

Nedeser knew that whether he answered or not, the game was up. Turning and facing her resolutely, Nedeser Thul said, "Yes, Jaesa. I am in love with someone else."

She turned away again and Nedeser felt the temperature in the clearing begin to drop. He knew that this was going to end badly. She turned to face him. "Just tell me this, Des: what is it about your padawan that you love so much and about me that you don't?"

Nedeser Thul refused to answer. He unclipped the lightsaber from his belt and stood tall – a Jedi Master radiating all the power that the title and position suggested. "I gave you your choices, Jaesa. Choose now."

Jaesa voice became almost sing song as she replied, "Make a choice, Master Jedi? Here is my choice: If I cannot have you, then no one can have you. How is that for my choice?"

With that, twin red blades snap-hissed into being and she turned. Her eyes glowed yellow and she strode towards him. Nedeser felt tears well up in his eyes but he ignited his weapon. An instant before she reached him, a blur shot into view and Jaesa Wilsaam flew back with a startled yell. Wearing trousers, a light shirt and her Sarkhai cloak, Nadia Grell stood between her master - her love and the enemy that sought to kill him. "My master gave you a choice, witch. Take it or leave it but know that he isn't alone. Not that he needs my help but it would be my pleasure to remove you."

The emerald blades of her double lightsaber along with the crimson of the sith double bladed lightsaber and the silver of Nedeser Thul's lightsaber highlighted the clearing with eerie colors.

Jaesa Wilsaam stood and tried to attack but the ground shook and rocks began to literally shatter and explode as Nadia displayed her powers. Suddenly, the lightsaber in Jaesa Wilsaam's hand exploded as the focusing crystals shattered to pieces. Nadia advanced, her traditional Sarkhai face paint making her look even more fearsome. Jaesa looked at Nedeser Thul one last time, pain and betrayal written on her face before she vanished into the night. Nedeser Thul took a deep breath and collapsed to his knees, grief weighing on him like duracrete. Rushing over to him, Nadia helped him up and asked in a low voice, "Are you hurt master? Did she do anything to you?"

Nedeser shook his head and asked, "How long were you there, Nadia?"

"The whole time. As soon as you gave me that kiss, I was awake. I wanted to see why you were leaving in the middle of the night. When that Sith showed up, I was afraid that you had another lover. While I am so relieved to see that that isn't the case, I still want to know what in the name of stars that was all about." She said, her normally sweet, quiet voice strict enough to show that she brooked no argument. Nedeser nodded his head. "Of course, Nadia. I'll explain everything. I promise."

Her face softened. He smiled and said, "I can walk on my own now, love."

Nadia shut the door of the bedroom inside the estate behind them and dropped her Sarkhai cloak, shirt and trousers before curling up in bed. Nedeser stripped down as well and used the force to kill the lights. They cuddled up and Nadia said, "You have some 'splaining to do, mister."

In as short a story as possible, Nedeser explain everything to her – about how he and Alias Ordo, Hero of Tython and the now-Sith Apprentice Jaesa Willsaam had essentially grown up together. When he was finished, she snuggled deeper into his embrace and whispered, "I love you so much, Nedeser Thul. You are, by far, the greatest man I have ever met and I am so fortunate that you picked me."

He kissed the back of her neck before whispering, "There was never any contest, Nadia. You were the very best choice for me and you always will be."

He began to kiss her again until she giggled and turned to face him. "If you are going to kiss me, at least let me return the favor."

She part rolled, part climbed on top of him and they shared a long kiss before he flipped her over again and began to kiss the soft skin of her neck, shoulders and chest. Nadia closed her eyes and enjoyed the tiny jolts she always got when he did that to her, allowing the passion to grow within her. "You know, considering this is an act of passion, I am amazed that we aren't falling to the dark side yet." She whispered philosophically.

Master Thul prodded her ribs and said, "Really? You want to discuss philosophy now?"

She giggled as he tickled her slightly and she said, "If you want me to stop talking, shut me up."

With a single smooth motion, he leaned down and kissed her and drove his length into her, preventing her from saying anything else until all she could manage was half intelligible moans and encouragements of ecstasy.

 **I hope you enjoyed this fic. I enjoyed writing it but it's meaningless if no one enjoys reading it. Read and Review. I do not own Star Wars or the Old Republic - just f.y.i.**

 **Updated May 22, 2016**


End file.
